Correspondence from Winner to Judges Phillips, Dupree, and Britt

Public Court Documents
October 8, 1984

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Matter
- Gingles
Case
- Thornburg v. Gingles
U.S. state
- North Carolina
Collection
- Case Files
Taxonomy
Identifier
- aef51fd3-d592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

Cite this item

Case Files, Thornburg v. Gingles Hardbacks, Briefs, and Trial Transcript. Correspondence from Winner to Judges Phillips, Dupree, and Britt, 1984. aef51fd3-d592-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/857793c4-c6ef-45da-aaed-c44222f90d6e/correspondence-from-winner-to-judges-phillips-dupree-and-britt. Accessed November 08, 2025.

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FERGUSON, WATT, WALLAS & ADKINS, P.A.

ATTORNEYS AT LAW

SUITE 730 EAST INOEPENDENCE PLAZA

95I SOUTH INDEPENDENCE BOULEVARO

CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA 28202
TELEPHONE (704) 375-846 IJAMES E. FERGUSON. II

MELVIN L, WATT

JONATHAN WALLAS

KARL ADKINS

YVONNE MIMS EVANS

JOHN W GRESHAM

LESLIE J. WINNER

JOHN T, NOCKLEBY

GERALOINE SUMTER

FRANK E, EMORY JR,

THOMAS M, STERN

October 8, 1984

Re: Gingles, €t al. v. Edmisten, €t a1.No.81-803-CIV-5

The Honorable J. Dickson phillips
Circuit Judge, Fourth Circuit
Post Office Box 3617
Durham, North Carolina 27702

The Honorable F. T. Dupree, Jr.
United States

.
District- Judge

Federal Building
310 New Bern Avenue
Raleigh, North Carolina 27611

The Honorable W. Earl Britt
United States District Judge
Federal Building
310 New Bern Av6nue
Raleigh, North Carolina 2761t

Dear Judge Phi11ips, Judge Dupree and Judge Britt:
This letter is to inform you that the cite to Cook v. Luckett, whichiscitedindefendants'1Ltestmemorana,*-"J""ffii:i..i.
2d 912 (5rh cir. 19g4). Now rhat r ta"e been;ti;-to.e"a ir, ir ap-Pears to me that neither defendants I characterization of the case norour characterization is preci".iy-.""rri.t".
Plaintiffs submit that cook v. Luckett does not suggest that thiscourt should not order ffiai this timel"-rn cook, inrePsonse to a finding of a one-per-son one-vote violationl-ffie a"r.rr-dant- county submittei a singte-ir&b;; dirtri.t plan which had been
?I":l:.red pursuar_rt ro $5 oi rhe Voiing nighis I"t"U"t which had a1-9: b percent population deviation. ThEre was no claim of racialdilution" The District court, findins_ ir,g 10.B-p;;I!r,. populationdeviarion ro be -rrnaccgprable;'";pl;-tEri"ii"i;;J;;;=rhar plan and.adopted plaintiffs' plan. The c"ilii-oi'Rppeat- held rhar rhe Dis-trict Court should have nade the necessary minor modifications todefendants' olan and should have ;;J;;;a an elecrion under defendanrs,plan as modiiied by the Co,r.t.

The Honorable J.
The Honorabl-e F.
The Honorable I,I.
October 8, 1984

Page 2

Dickson Phillips
T. Dupree, Jr.
Earl Britt

That case is distinggishable for several reasons. The two most ob-vious are that, in Erris case,, defendana;'-p1;-""itt,L= uses single-member disrricrs nor has ir 6gg" pr""i."r"d t;;;."t-to s5. Thecourt in cook-v. Luckett specific'atiy-ieiterited itre ourigat1o;-of aDistrict@a.singie:*"fil.iai'iii"t-pi.".735F.2d,at
?18' , Fina1ly, there- is no e-"s! modification to deienaants' proposalto make it 1egal. Because the-Attofnet ceneral ouj""t.a to defen-dants' proposal-, in part based on-th;-Lonriguiarioi-or its single-mem-ber district,.that single-member aisirict cannot be used as the basisof this Courtrs p1an. -Ev9n under the-iationale of Cook v. LuckettthisCourtmuststartwithadiiiei.',t-;i;;1;:;.*i.ffi
must divide the remaining three-member ai"i=i"i-i;;; si.ngle-memberdistricts.
Fina1ly, Cook v. Luckett dogs not suggest that this Court must givedefendant@rrnitytoa#i;;aproposedremedy.Rather
the court in cook said the Diitricr-couit rirorria-t"""-;;i.L"r"i"iT-the coun!y'" lll?Eners to rheir drawin! board or itseir amendled] rhecounty plans sufficiently to achieve in .accept"ui.-pop"i"iio"-"d".r-ity. amopg thg districts.i' 735 F.2d-"i--grg. 'rha-coirit furrher sug-gests that, in order to enable an election to be heia, it is appropri-ate for the District Court to^impos.-i"-interim plan giving defen-dants the opportr:nity to ."u*it -!-rrJr*fr""

after rhe erection.
Having now had the opportunity- to read cook v. Luckett, plaintiffsreiteratetheir.'equLstthattr'i"c."itffiofsing1e-member
districts in wilson,-Edgecomb and Nash cor:nties which will allow anelecrion to proceed'1egi11y in 19g4

Thank you for your consideration of this matter.

Sincerely,

4tuu
tV{i" t.

h)r*"*r
Winner

IJW: eh
cc: Mr. Rich Leonard

Mr. Jim I^/a11ace
Ms. Katherine MCGuan
Mr. Robert Hunter
Ms. Lani Guinier

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Correspondence from Winner to Judges Phillips, Dupree, and Britt

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